An approach aimed at referral of patients requiring emergency department (ED) treatment for asthma to an education program has shown considerable success, Canadian researchers report in the medical journal Chest.

Dr. Louis-Philippe Boulet, of Hopital Laval, Saint-Foy, and colleagues set up a program to increase asthma education referrals by ED personnel. In all, 600 nurses, respiratory therapists and physicians from nine centers underwent a 3-hour training session. Various other measures were also taken to refine the referral process.

In the four months after implementation of the program, 1,104 patients were directed to an education program, compared with 110 for the same period the year before.

Follow-up showed that 16.1 percent of patients refused the intervention, but 68.9 percent made appointments and 72.8 percent of these scheduled patients kept their appointments.

Among difficulties that certain ED personnel had in implementing the program, were lack of time and problems incorporating the measures into their routines, as well as lack of resources.

The researchers conclude that although such local barriers should be addressed, the approach is well accepted by ED staff and can help reduce asthma-related illness.

“Many papers show a benefit of asthma education,” Dr. Boulet told Reuters Health. Among the findings have been that “enrollment in a formal asthma education program for patients presenting at the ED for acute asthma led to a marked reduction in subsequent ED visits compared to those with usual care or single interventions by the physician at the ED.”

SOURCE: Chest, November 2004.